Downtown Ladies is an enlightening book about the stereotypes that are placed upon women in Jamaica. Within the first chapter of the book, I was enlightened by the history she provided about the way women dressed, and how it was a class symbol.  I Found this interesting because I see the manifestation of this same mentality today in the U.S. she mentioned how black women were not able the compete with white women, So, they competed with each other; the competition was to see who could disassociate themselves from "blackness." This was particularly interesting because even today, you see black women dressing to impress one another as if there is a competition.

I also found Downtown Ladies to be interesting because of the analysis of the woman/lady dichtonomy.  A "Woman" is strong physically, head of the household, etc. While a "lady" is fragile and dainty. This was an important concept in Downtown Ladies as Gina Ulysse describe  a higgler. Higglers were known to be "rude gals" that sell products in Jamaica; they are now formally known as Informal Commercial Importers. When Ulysse dedicated an entire section to personal accounts of higglers, they all had one important thing in common: independence. The only reason that an ICI does this for a living is to take care of family members and to be their own boss.

This reminds me of the informal businesses here in the U.S. The notification behind majority of the informal activity is to be upwardly mobile in class, take care of their family, and be independent. With this parallel, I address Barrieteau's piece about feminism in the Caribbean. Is  black feminism the same transnationally? In my opinion, they operate under the same oppressive system; the lighter the skin the more power you have. Just as we may be affected by race differently, black feminists may experience oppression differently than that of the Caribbean feminist. The manifestation of these oppressions is not what make them alike; it's the driving force behind these oppressions that makes them  similar.